60-Year-Old Brand Stands Out in Hockey-Crazed Toronto With New, Custom Website

Dean Bender, a creative agency executive, volunteered to join the Forest Hill Hockey Association board of directors and immediately found himself in charge of boosting the association’s profile in hockey-crazed Toronto.

Name: Dean Bender

Organization: Forest Hill Hockey Association

Position: Vice President — Communications & Brand, Secretary

SportsEngine Tools Utilized: Sitebuilder, League

What he was up against

Forest Hill Hockey Association’s website needed help — it was outdated, not mobile-responsive, and all updates needed to be done by an outside company.

What SportsEngine did to help

Forest Hill Hockey Association chose SportsEngine to update an aging website to be mobile-friendly, properly branded, and easily managed by the association.

What the impact was

After joining the Forest Hill Hockey Association board of directors, Bender immediately went to work on updating their online presence.

“I said, ‘Guys, we need to make our website more user friendly,’ ” says Bender. “It was all about making it functional. How do we get a good-looking site that we can use?”

After working with SportsEngine to create a custom, mobile-friendly website with updated branding, the association immediately took notice.

“First impressions were great,” says Bender, whose two sons play in the association. “Everybody loved it.”

Not only did the new website look great, but it was finally easy for the board and administrators to manage.

"The new site allows us to update things immediately versus having to wait," says Bender. "It puts the power in the hands of the board and the people."

Now, with easy-to-use drag and drop editing tools, instead of being forced to request the creator of the old website to make changes or add information, multiple people can be given permission to work on specific areas of the site at the same time.

Bender writes a steady stream of updates on any and all things related to the association, including team accomplishments, unique and unusual moments on and off the ice, and upcoming events.

“My goal is to create a site that serves as an extension of the little area around the snack bar,” says Bender. “A driver so the community is talking about what is happening in our association.”